Fiscal Report

Autodesk’s full picture 2024 Q4 fiscal results include top-line revenue growth and a free cash flow from operations at USD 427 million. Here are some other metrics:

• USD 1.71 billion in total billings, a decrease of 19 percent.
• USD 1.47 billion in total revenue, an increase of 11 percent, or 14 percent on a constant currency basis.
• Recurring revenue represents 98 percent of the total revenue.
• USD 1.2 billion in “Design” segment revenue, a 10 percent increase as reported.
• USD 138 million in “Make” segment revenue, a 16 percent increase as reported.
• Non-GAAP operation margin was 36 percent, flat compared with the year-ago period.
• GAAP diluted EPS was USD 1.31; non-GAAP was USD 2.09.

“We are undertaking a multi-year process to develop lifecycle solutions powered by shared platform services and with Autodesk’s Data Model at its core. Together, these will enable Autodesk, its customers, and partners to create more valuable, data-driven, and connected products and services,” said Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk president and CEO. “Having led the industry in generative design, we are leading again in 3D generative AI. Our new multimodal foundation models will enable design and make customers to automate low-value and repetitive tasks and generate more high-value, complex designs more rapidly and with much greater consistency. We can already generate 3D representations from images 10 times faster and with vastly higher quality than currently available 3D AI.”

“Autodesk remains resilient, and underlying demand for our products and services is robust. As a result, revenue grew 14 percent at constant currency in the fourth quarter,” said Debbie Clifford, Autodesk’s CFO. Adjusting the midpoint of our guidance to exclude noise from the new transaction model, acquisitions, the absence of EBA true-up revenue, and FX, we expect underlying revenue to grow more than 10 percent in fiscal 25.”

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

In looking at fiscal details in Autodesk reports, net revenue by product family is another way of splitting up Autodesk’s financial results beyond the Design and Make segment categories. The four product families are (with results in millions):

• USD 696  (up from 602) — AEC
• USD 377 (up from 362) — AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT
• USD 292 (up from 257) — MFG (Manufacturing / Mechanical CAD products)
• USD 77 (up from 74) — M&E (media & entertainment)

The Other revenue category not associated with these four families generated USD 27 million, up from USD 23 million in the Q4-2023 quarter. 

It is notable that AutoCAD family revenue is 54 percent as large as AEC family revenue but did not grow nearly as quickly in the present examined quarter. Those in the 2D CAD industry who compete with Autodesk contend there are still substantial growth opportunities in the global market if users in developing countries and third-world countries can abandon pirated licenses and switch to legal subscription licenses. However, the issue in those markets is that the software is simply too expensive. So there is still market upside for the AutoCAD product family growth, perhaps substantial, but so much of it lies in markets that need more affordable solutions. 

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Maya is popular across creative industries, from film and television to architecture and design. As such, the SPECapc for Maya 2024 benchmark is a useful industry tool to help creative professionals optimize their computer system selections as part of their workforces and digital pipelines.

SPECapc for Maya 2024

Unlike other SPEC-based benchmarks (see, Xpresso, “How SPEC/GWPG Benchmarks Exist to Help Users Optimize Workstation Selection,” August 2022, in Special Feature), the “apc” versions require the benchmark user to actually have the software that is being used in the benchmark. With this latest 2024 release, users of Autodesk Maya 2024 can test their computer system’s performance running the software and compare that to other systems.

SPEC has released the new SPECapc for Maya 2024 benchmark. (image of their website).

“We are pleased to deliver this timely update to the SPECapc for Maya 2024 benchmark, allowing users to measure the performance of existing and new computing systems when running the latest version of Maya,” said Jessica Heerboth, Chair of the SPEC Application Performance Characterization Committee. “With the inclusion of the SPEC Workload Development Kit, enterprising users can gain greater insight into the performance of the workloads that matter most to them.”

43 Tests

There are 43 total tests in the new benchmark using 11 different models and animations. There are eight separate graphics tests in various modes and five different CPU tests. The graphics-oriented tests use six different Maya view settings — Shaded, Shaded SSAO, wireframe on shading, wireframe on shaded SSAO, textured, and textured SSAO. Various tests measure both animation and 3D model rotation performance. Five CPU tests within the benchmark perform CPU ray tracing and evaluation caching in various modes.

In addition to updating the benchmark for Maya 2024, the SPEC Application Performance Characterization Committee added the SPECapc for Maya 2024 WDK, a framework allowing users to run their own GPU-specific workloads using the same measurement and output techniques.

Available Immediately

The SPECapc for Maya 2024 benchmark is available as a free application for everyone except vendors of computers and related products and services. For those users, membership in the SPEC Graphics and Workstation Performance Group (SPEC GWPG) includes a vendor license for all SPEC GWPG benchmarks. Current SPEC GWPG members include:

• AMD
• Dell
• HP (Hewlett Packard)
• Intel
• Lenovo
• Nvidia

Non-member computer product and service vendors can purchase the benchmark for USD 2,500.

About SPEC

SPEC is a non-profit organization that establishes, maintains and endorses standardized benchmarks and tools to evaluate performance for the newest generation of computing systems. Its membership comprises more than 120 leading computer hardware and software vendors, educational institutions, research organizations, and government agencies worldwide.

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Design Scholarship

Subjects include architecture, landscape architecture, landscape design, entertainment, and interior design.

Winner of last year’s Richard Diehl Award. (image: Vectorworks.)

Moreover, students can submit a new design or past project from any of their previous classes for the chance to win up to USD 10,000. Indeed, Vectorworks Academic Marketing Programs Specialist Jen Hart explains its aims:

Competition judge Cristina Murphy also offered some words of encouragement to potential 2023 Vectorworks Design Scholarship competitors. She said, “Share your distinctive abilities with fellow designers, creatives, and the world as you step out into your next chapter. You are the future of the design profession and can make a difference! We can’t wait to see what you have in store.”

In addition to being one of the 2023 Vectorworks judges, Cristina Murphy is co-founder of XCOOP and adjunct professor at Virginia Tech, Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center. She is also an assistant professor at the School of Architecture and Planning at Morgan State University.

2023 Vectorworks Design Scholarship prizes

2023 Vectorworks competition entries will be evaluated by an expert panel of international judges in two rounds. Firstly, winners of round 1 can each win up to $3,000 USD. They will also automatically enjoy the chance to win the grand prize Richard Diehl Award. This is worth up to an additional USD 7,000.

Winners’ schools will also receive free Vectorworks Design Suite software and free virtual or in-person workshop training for faculty and students.

Round 1: 2023 Vectorworks Design Scholarship

• USD 2,000 for tuition, fees, housing, textbooks, study abroad, conference registration, and other educational purposes.
• Free Vectorworks design software for winners’ schools.
• Free virtual or in-person training for faculty and students.

Round 2: The Richard Diehl Award

• USD 7,000 for tuition, fees, housing, textbooks, study abroad, conference registration, and other educational purposes.
• Benefits for applicants and their schools include Vectorworks lab licenses and virtual or in-person training provided by a Vectorworks expert.

How to enter 2023 Vectorworks Design Scholarship

Submission deadlines and prize award amounts depend on the applicant’s country or region. After that, Vectorworks will announce the winners on 8 December 2023.

• To study the rules and enter the 2023 Vectorworks competition, please click here.

About Vectorworks, Inc.

Vectorworks is an award-winning design and BIM software provider serving the architecture, landscape architecture, and entertainment industries, in 85 countries. Consequently, it has more than 685,000 users who are creating, connecting, and influencing the next generation of design using Vectorworks.

Its head office is in Columbia, Maryland, with offices in Australia, Canada, and the UK. Vectorworks dates back to 1985, and is now part of the Nemetschek Group.

• To learn more about Vectorworks, please click here.

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ZBrush Summit

The summit will take place at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, located conveniently in Los Angeles, adjacent to Hollywood. The event will feature several key components:

• Artist Insights: Attendees will have access to exclusive presentations by renowned digital artists and industry leaders from around the world. These presentations will delve into detailed procedures and industry-specific applications of ZBrush, and live Q&A sessions will provide a rare opportunity for interaction and feedback from favorite artists. This unique experience aims to empower artists and enhance their sculpting skills and knowledge.
• Live ZBrush Sculpt-off: The summit will host the world’s most prestigious digital sculpting competition, the Live ZBrush Sculpt-Off. This competition brings together top digital sculptors with diverse backgrounds and international expertise. Participants will compete in front of a live and streaming audience, creating masterpieces aligned with a given prompt within a specific time limit. This event showcases the power of ZBrush as sculptors demonstrate their speed and creativity, vying for the championship title.
• Creative Lifestyle: The Creative Lifestyle segment at the ZBrush Summit offers attendees a chance to witness the creative process in action and gain insights into the tools and techniques used by leading digital artists. Workshops covering various topics, including concept art, character design, and 3D printing, will be conducted. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with industry luminaries, ask questions, and immerse themselves in an environment that fosters creativity and encourages artists to push their artistic boundaries.

Registration for the ZBrush Summit is now open on zbrushsummit.com. Whether attending in person or virtually, this event promises to be the ultimate experience for digital sculpting and art enthusiasts.

You can register for the event here. 

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Not a hair out of place

The research papers that NVIDIA will present at SIGGRAPH 2023 describe the latest generative AI and neural graphics. These include NVIDIA’s collaborations with over a dozen universities in Europe, Israel, and the United States.

NVIDIA presentation for SIGGRAPH 2023 showing how AI can be used to make dynamic objects such as hair move realistically (Image NVIDIA.)

Once a 3D character is generated, artists can layer in realistic details such as hair. This is normally a complex, computationally expensive challenge for animators. Humans have an average of 100,000 hairs on their heads. Each hair reacts dynamically to an individual’s motion and the surrounding environment.

Traditionally, creators have used physics formulas to calculate hair movement, simplifying or approximating its motion based on the resources available. That is why virtual characters in a big-budget film sport much more detailed heads of hair than real-time video game avatars.

This paper showcases a method that can simulate tens of thousands of hairs in high resolution and in real-time using neural physics. This is an AI technique that teaches a neural network to predict how an object would move in the real world.

• To see a video showing how neural physics enables such realistic simulations, please click here.

Optimized for modern GPUs (graphics processor units)

The team’s novel approach for accurate simulation of full-scale hair is specifically optimized for modern GPUs. It offers significant performance improvements compared to state-of-the-art, CPU-based solvers. Consequently, it reduces simulation times from multiple days to a few hours. It also improves the quality of hair simulations possible in real-time. This technique finally enables both accurate and interactive physically-based hair grooming.

The SIGGRAPH 2023 papers include generative AI models that turn text into personalized images. These include:

• Neural physics models that use AI to simulate complex 3D elements with astonishing realism.
• Neural rendering models that unlock new capabilities for generating real-time, AI-powered visual details.
• AI tools that transform still images into 3D objects.

Customized text-to-image models

Generative AI models that transform text into images are powerful tools for creating concept art or storyboards for films, video games, and 3D virtual worlds. Text-to-image AI tools can turn a prompt such as “children’s toys” into almost infinite visuals that a creator can use for inspiration.

However, some artists may have a specific subject in mind. For example, a creative director for a toy brand could be planning an ad campaign around a new teddy bear and needs to visualize the toy in different situations, such as a teddy bear’s tea party.

To enable this level of specificity in the output of a generative AI model, researchers from Tel Aviv University and NVIDIA have two SIGGRAPH 2023 papers. These projects will enable users to provide image examples from which the generative AI model can learn.

Examples of generative AI models personalizing text-to-image output based on user-provided images. (Image: NVIDIA.)

One of their papers describes a technique that needs a single example image to customize its output, accelerating the personalization process from minutes to roughly 11 seconds on a single NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPU. This is more than sixty times faster than previous personalization methods.

Their second SIGGRAPH 2023 paper introduces a highly compact model called Perfusion. This takes a handful of concept images to allow users to combine multiple personalized elements. For example, it can meld a 3D image, such as a specific teddy bear and a selected teapot, into a single AI-generated 3D image, as demonstrated above.

Neural rendering offers film-quality detail to real-time graphics

After an environment is filled with animated 3D objects and characters, real-time rendering simulates the physics of light reflecting through the virtual scene. Recent NVIDIA research shows how AI models for textures, materials, and volumes can deliver film-quality, photorealistic visuals in real-time for video games and digital twins.

NVIDIA invented programmable shading over two decades ago. This enables developers to customize the graphics pipeline. In these latest neural rendering inventions, researchers extend programmable shading code with AI models. These run deep inside NVIDIA’s real-time graphics pipelines.

Neural texture compression

In another SIGGRAPH 2023 paper, NVIDIA will present neural texture compression. Neural texture compression can substantially increase the realism of 3D scenes.  The image below demonstrates how neural-compressed textures (right) capture sharper detail than previous formats, where the text remains blurry (center). Neural texture compression (right) provides up to sixteen times more texture detail than previous texture formats. Moreover, it does so without using additional GPU memory.

Three-pane image showing a page of text, a zoomed-in version with blurred text, and an equally zoomed-in version with clear text. (Image: NVIDIA.)

A related paper announced last year is now available in early access as NeuralVDB. This AI-enabled data compression technique decreases the memory needed to represent volumetric data up to one hundred times. These effects can create clouds, fire, smoke, and water.

Sharing research

NVIDIA researchers regularly share their ideas with developers on GitHub. This includes the NVIDIA Omniverse platform for building and operating metaverse applications and NVIDIA Picasso. This is a recently announced foundry for custom generative AI models for visual design. Years of NVIDIA graphics research helped bring film-style rendering to games. These include the recently-released Cyberpunk 2077 Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode game.

In conclusion

The cutting-edge AI research NVIDIA will present at SIGGRAPH 2023 should be of great interest to both developers and enterprises. The content of these papers will help engineers generate synthetic data to populate virtual worlds for robotics and autonomous vehicle training. They will also help creatives in art, architecture, graphic design, game development, and film.

• To learn more about SIGGRAPH 2023, please click here.
• More information regarding NVIDIA’s cutting-edge AI papers is accessible from here.

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What is Adobe and NVIDIA generative AI?

A generative artificial intelligence system is one that is capable of generating text, images, or other media in response to human prompts.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. (Image NVIDIA.)

As NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang indicated in his recent GTC keynote, generative AI is having a profound effect on our world. Generative AI systems use generative models such as large language models to sample new data statistically. So the AI model is continually gathering, assimilating, and learning new material.

Some of the new AI models will be jointly developed and brought to market through Adobe’s Creative Cloud, using flagship products such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe After Effects. They will also use the the new NVIDIA Picasso cloud service in order to reach third-party developers.

NVIDIA’s Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Developer Programs, Greg Estes explained:

Adobe Chief Strategy Officer and EVP, Design and Emerging Products, Scott Belsky added, “Adobe and NVIDIA have a long history of working closely together to advance the technology of creativity and marketing. We’re thrilled to partner with them on ways that generative AI can give our customers more creative options, speed their work, and help scale content production.”

Adobe and NVIDIA partnership priorities

One of the ideas behind the partnership is to address misinformation and fakes, through a process of digital content provenance. Adobe is also developing new generative AI services to assist in the creation of video and 3D assets and to help marketers scale and personalize content for digital experiences through advancing end-to-end marketing workflows.

Another aim is to ensure the commercial viability of the new technology. NVIDIA Picasso lets users build and deploy generative AI-powered image, video, and 3D applications with advanced text-to-image, text-to-video, and text-to-3D capabilities to speed up productivity for creativity, design, and digital simulation through simple cloud APIs.

Adobe and NVIDIA Content Authenticity Initiative

Adobe founded the CAI (Content Authenticity Initiative) to develop open industry standards for establishing attribution and content credentials. CAI adds to content at the point of capture, creation, edit, or generation, so that viewers can ascertain when content was generated or modified using generative AI. Adobe and NVIDIA, along with 900 other members of the CAI, support Content Credentials so people can make informed decisions about the content they encounter.

Adobe Firefly

The partnership also has an element of fun too as Adobe also introduces Firefly, its new family of creative generative AI models. Some of Adobe Firefly’s models will be hosted on NVIDIA Picasso. This will optimize performance and generate very high-quality visual assets for various creatives.

Adobe Firefly in action. (Image: Adobe.)

Adobe unveiled the beta of its first model focused on the generation of images and text effects designed to be safe for commercial use. Firefly will bring even more precision, power, speed, and ease directly into Adobe Creative Cloud. It will also appear on Adobe Document Cloud, and Adobe Experience Cloud too.

Watch the Jensen Huang’s keynote speech

A recording of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang’s GTC keynote can be found here or here.

About NVIDIA

Since its founding in 1993, Santa Clara, California-based NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been a pioneer in accelerated computing. Starting firstly with the company’s invention of the GPU (graphics processing unit) in 1999, it sparked the growth of the PC gaming market. It also redefined computer graphics, ignited the era of modern AI, and is fueling the creation of the metaverse. NVIDIA is now a full-stack computing company with data-center scale products that are reshaping the industry. For more information, please click here.

About Adobe

Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) started in 1992. Its headquarters are in San Jose, California. It produces industry-standard software for the creation and publication of a wide range of visual content. This includes graphics, photography, illustration, animation, multimedia/video, motion pictures, and print. For more information, please click here.

Adobe and the Adobe logo are trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries. NVIDIA and the NVIDIA logo are trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Universe 5.1

A much-requested feature, the newest version of Universe was completely rebuilt to provide a more future-proof and flexible foundation, says Maxon. The Javascript code has been replaced with C++ and the new foundational updates pave the way for more creative powerful tools in the future.

Universe 5. 1 does more than add M1 chip support. There are major bug fixes for Adobe Premier and minor enhancements made to the solution as well.

Universe 5.1 from Maxon now supports M1 Macs.

These updates and features are included with the maintenance release and are available immediately with the Maxon App.

To learn more about Universe 5.1 visit here. To learn more about Maxon, a subsidiary of the Nemetschek Group, visit their home page. Maxon is the developer of industry-leader Cinema 4D, Red Giant, ZBrush, and Redshift Renderer, among other key M&E industry tools.

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Why Cloud

The COVID-19 global pandemic has had an interesting impact on the M&E industry. On the one hand, like nearly every industry on the planet, the pandemic had a workforce, supply chain, and logistics impact on M&E companies worldwide. But on the other hand, the pandemic itself drove up demand for streaming entertainment in both games and television and film. Studios worldwide were hit with increased demand coupled with decreased capacity due to quarantine mandates and travel restrictions.

The shift to the cloud became critical in 2020 and Autodesk is focused on helping fuel the transition to new models of workforce configuration and production delivery. The company’s vision with Forge aligns with the 2030 view of M&E production outlined by industry think-tank MovieLabs.

Lee Griggs creates sophisticated simulations and effects with Bifrost. (Image: Lee Griggs)

Underlying this vision is a foundation built on open standards such as USD (Universal Scene Description) for 3D data exchange, and OpenColorIO for color calibration and management. Working with customers and the Academy Software Foundation, Autodesk is actively involved in assisting in the formation of these open standards plus their integration into Autodesk products.

USD Format

Pixar invented the Universal Screen Description (USD) format and Autodesk is extensively collaborating with Pixar, Animal Logic, Luma Pictures, and Blue Sky to help refine the multiple flavors of USD into a common industry-standard USD implementation. This format is getting integrated into Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max.

USD enables artists to load and edit massive datasets at lighting speed, increasing pipeline efficiency and improving collaboration, so that teams can more easily handle the high-volume data workloads of 3D scenes.

Forge-Based M&E Workflows

Autodesk announced and discussed at AU21 its intention to move workflows to the cloud across a range of industries the company provides solutions for. Autodesk Forge provides both a unified vision and a foundational technology for cloud-based distributed workflows. Forge will provide both the security and scalability to connect teams near and far, form alignment on tasks and data, and yield newfound efficiencies and capabilities.

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Autodesk will be bringing Maya, 3ds Max, Flame, and ShotGrid to a new cloud-based Forge platform. As Autodesk moves toward production in the cloud, the company is investing in content creation tools, like Bifrost a low-footprint, low-code, visual programming environment for creating sophisticated simulations and effects. By bringing this technology to the Forge platform Autodesk can provide greater performance and scalability, new types of services such as simulation wedging, as well as future, cloud-connected workflows with third-party tools like Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender, and Houdini.

New Partnerships

Autodesk has announced it is partnering with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine to improve image quality and broaden the accessibility to virtual production to a wider range of budgets. Autodesk previously had a partnership with Unity to bring its game engine technology into Autodesk AEC products, for example. This new Epic partnership likely reflects the strength of the Unreal game engine and its traction in pro markets.

Autodesk previously partnered with famed Weta Digital, the company behind “Lord of the Rings,” “Avatar,” and “Planet of the Apes.” The partnership introduced WetaM, a cloud-based production pipeline toolset that seamlessly integrates Weta’s signature artist tools and Maya to deliver next-generation procedural workflows. WetaM productizes Weta Digital’s proprietary visual effects (VFX) tools as they are connected to Maya via Maya’s open API (application programming interface).

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

Forge for Autodesk when spread across industries means the company can leverage common research and development to bring about process change to multiple industries, from AEC and MCAD industries to M&E. Whether this common set of foundational technologies is optimally suited for all three major industrial sectors remains a critical question to be evaluated at a much later today. This push to a common Forge vision is in the early stages and as we noted in some of our AU21 writing in our latest Xpresso #32 issue just released, Autodesk knows this transition is going to take years. 

Autodesk has different levels of market share and dominance in AEC sectors, MCAD sectors, and M&E. They ideally hope to grow share, influence, and revenue via synergies in the Forge-based platform. The real question will be how its largest rivals will engage with its Forge visions. Another critical question is how its largest rivals in AEC and MCAD will respond to Autodesk Forge in the near future. 

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